[6] Chapter 1. Reversing the Pendulum of Time (5)
“Feeling a bit better now?”
“Ugh…”
Fernciana sighed and looked down. Ilyas was lying sprawled out on a blanket in a forest clearing where the merchant group had stopped to camp for the night. His face, with a hand on his forehead, was pale even in the setting sun.
“Was it… your first time riding a carriage?”
“No, not that… It’s just been too long since I rode this kind of carriage.”
“Then did you walk here when you came down?”
“I rode a horse.”
“Where did the horse you rode go?”
“I let it go…”
“Ah… So you know the most in the capital… Rode a horse down to the countryside, then lost the horse you rode in a card game?”
“…”
“I don’t know if I can really trust you.”
“What you’re saying is really, ugh…”
Ilyas, who had abruptly sat up, clutched his stomach again. Fernciana laid Ilyas back down with a sigh. The people of the merchant group didn’t seem particularly interested in them. Fernciana placed a water bottle next to Ilyas and got up from her seat.
“Where are you going, leaving your brother behind?”
“Exercise~!”
“The night road is dangerous. Don’t go far!”
“You should take care of yourself, brother…”
“Ugh.”
Fernciana, rubbing her shoulders and lightly jumping in place, proceeded to a slightly dark area where the light from the bonfire did not reach.
She began to lightly loosen and move her fatigued body. Once she actually moved her body this way and that, it became clear as if light was shining on her memory. How, in what way, and what she did naturally began to come to mind. There were times she hesitated for a moment as grueling memories also came to mind, but it wasn’t very difficult.
It was when Fernciana had loosened her body just enough to break a light sweat.
“Oh?”
“Oh.”
“Mmph, mmph! Mmph!”
Fernciana’s eyes widened. A tall man was passing in front of her, carrying something on his shoulder. The moment she looked back, his blue eyes shining even in the darkness and his flashy blond hair were impressive. Thanks to that, Fernciana noticed a bit late what was hanging on the man’s shoulder.
“Uh…”
“Excuse me.”
A low voice apologized as it brushed past her. Fernciana looked back at him as if entranced, then made eye contact with what was hanging on the man’s shoulder.
That thing, with a gag in its mouth, frantically struggling – it was none other than Ilyas, whom she had just laid down nicely on a blanket.
“No, what is this… Excuse me!”
Fernciana, looking at Ilyas who was staring at her with an urgent expression, quickly moved to block the man’s path. The man stopped readily.
“That… that thing.”
“Hm?”
“That thing you’re stealing right now, I have business with it, so it would be a problem if you take it.”
“Business?”
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
The man glanced at Ilyas, whom he had hoisted on his shoulder. Ilyas’s struggles became even more intense. Fernciana licked her dry lips. The other party was not just good-looking, but a man of such beauty that even adding her past life, she had never seen before.
‘He can carry a man his own size on his shoulder and walk without any issue?’
Then that meant his strength was also considerable. It was when Fernciana swallowed her saliva and pondered how she would stop that. Suddenly, the man frowned – even that was plausible, making Fernciana admire – and set Ilyas down on the ground as if slapping him.
“What kind of business is it?”
Fernciana’s eyes widened. To her, it was an extremely polite way of speaking, but his actions toward Ilyas were rough as if harboring a grudge.
“Ah… Well, I requested something from him and he agreed to do it for me.”
“A request? Don’t tell me you already gave this person money?”
“Something… like that. I saved him when he was caught for free food. So I really need that person.”
The man sighed. And in the eyes that looked at her, there was half disdain, half sympathy, the two appropriately mixed together with worry and concern as an adhesive.
“You rashly entrust a request to someone you can’t even trust?”
“But he doesn’t seem completely rotten…”
She couldn’t very well say that she had already seen the future once and that this person had become the continent’s top information merchant there. Then Ilyas finally spat out the gag and shouted.
“Huff, Pe-Peirun! Save your brother!”
“You must think I’m a bad person.”
“Then where are you taking him now?
“Peirun! Quickly!”
Ilyas shouted at the top of his lungs while struggling tied up. Fernciana narrowed her eyes. It seemed they already knew each other.
‘If he’s that handsome, it would be hard to forget him…’
If they had met once in the ‘past,’ she would think she’d remember, but nothing came to mind. As Fernciana silently stared, Ilyas violently moved his body and headbutted his waist.
“Hey! It’s because you’re like this that the kid doesn’t believe me!”
“Is it not your fault for running away from Pomilas and even taking a request?”
“I told you the circumstances weren’t like that.”
“Ah, circumstances… After they saved you from offering free food, you had no choice but to do what you’re good at to repay them.”
What he’s good at? Fernciana tilted her head, and the man, noticing it, said lightly.
“Scamming, I mean.”
“Hey! Ruairi!”
“Ilyas? What do you mean by scamming?”
“No, Peirun, you have to believe me, not him!”
After making a commotion in the forest to the point of lacking oxygen and finally calming down, Ilyas turned his head and spoke.
“This is my secretary. Ruairi.”
“I am Ilyas-nim’s secretary.”
“…Do secretaries usually do that… kidnap their superiors with a gag like that?”
“If the superior doesn’t act like a superior?”
The man, Ruairi, retorted briskly.
Fernciana quietly stared at Ilyas and Ruairi, narrowing her eyes. The fact that he even has a separate secretary coming to find him makes him seem trustworthy, but seeing that secretary trying to kidnap and take away his own superior, it also seems like something’s not right…
But she had no choice now.
“So, uh, then what about my request?”
“Trust is like life to an information merchant. Since you saved our boss, whatever you desire…”
“Ah, no! Hey! Shut your mouth, hey!”
“Aha.”
Fernciana narrowed her eyes and looked at Ilyas. Who was it that said the cost didn’t match? When Ilyas finally smiled awkwardly under that gaze, the people of the merchant group who heard the commotion on this side appeared in a group.
One was lying sprawled on the ground with a gag in his mouth, his whole body tied up, and two people were having an awkward conversation with that bundle between them. As the people of the merchant group made uncomprehending expressions, Fernciana had to explain that she had coincidentally met an acquaintance passing by and there had been a brief misunderstanding.
The merchant’s gaze turned to Ilyas.
“If there was a misunderstanding… do you tie a person up like that…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Come warm yourself by the fire…”
The merchants left in a group again, and Fernciana silently looked at the two men.
*
With the background sound of Ilyas vomiting a lot and panting, Fernciana attempted a conversation with Ruairi.
“So you and Ilyas really run an information guild?”
“Yes.”
Ruairi nodded with a grace that was too excessive for the secretary of an information guild leader. Fernciana stared intently at Ruairi, then approached Ilyas with a sigh, taking a water bottle.
Ilyas’s complexion was terrible, not only from the carriage sickness, but also from lying down and moving intensely here and there.
“Drink some.”
“Oh, Peirun! Your brother is dying~!”
“Then you should live more virtuously…”
“I have lived virtuously! The bad one is that guy!”
“Is it… living virtuously for the boss to ditch work, come down, gamble on cards, lose the horse and everything else he had?”
“Little one, trying not to lose with words already…”
“You won’t win with your body either, so be quiet and drink some water.”
Fernciana shoved the water bottle into Ilyas’s mouth and sat back in front of Ruairi.
“There were some parts I was a bit suspicious of.”
“I understand.”
“But since you, the secretary, have also come, I want to continue with the request.”
“Of course, we will serve you with all our heart.”
Fernciana gave a short fake cough. Ruairi looked at her with a puzzled expression. Fernciana, shaking her head that it was nothing, drew a bright smile. The polite and respectful attitude of the strikingly handsome man had a considerable impact on her mood and sense of trustworthiness.
“Did you go into debt with this merchant group to get to Pomilas?”
“Ah, yes.”
“I see… Then we have a separately prepared carriage, so will you ride that?”
“Ah, that…”
Fernciana, who was about to say yes, paused for a moment. No matter how plausible the other party looked, he was the owner of strength that could hoist a man his own height on his shoulder without any issue. It was still difficult to bet on a match with her current body.
Fernciana spoke earnestly in a composed manner, as if imitating Ruairi.
“That would be nice, but considering that I can’t fully trust you right now… I’d like to travel with this merchant group’s carriage.”
“Of course, I understand. It’s hard to trust someone like that.”
“Hey!”
Ilyas, who had been lying down, abruptly sat up, then lay back down with a groan.
“Then I will go up to the capital first and wait. Please come safely… and take good care of the boss.”
“Ah, yes.”
Ruairi, who had appeared like a silent storm, quietly rose, just as he had appeared without a sound. Then he handed Ilyas a small bundle and politely bid farewell to Fernciana before walking away as if disappearing back into the forest.
“…Is he really a secretary?”
“Your brother is sad…”
Ilyas turned his back and lay down. Fernciana burst into laughter and patted his back.